ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Nine
years ago, Kathy Niesen and five other women delivered 16
homemade blankets to the pediatric unit at St. John's Mercy
Medical Center in Creve Coeur.
The women thought the
afghans, quilts and crochets could offer the children there
the same sense of security that Linus, the Peanuts character,
seems to get from his ever-present blanket. Hence, the
organization's name: Project Linus.
Word of Project
Linus spread, and through the years the number of volunteers
sewing, crocheting or knitting the blankets numbered up to
150.
On Friday morning, Niesen and six volunteers were
back at St. John's, delivering the organization's 10,000th
blanket.
"They put so much love and time into these blankets,"
said Alberta Lee, a child life therapist at St. John's since
1985. "These quilts are absolutely gorgeous."
For the
team of blanketeers who joined Niesen on Friday, the
presentation was the first time they witnessed a child's
reaction to their handiwork.
Mary Curran of south St.
Louis County has made 100 blankets each year for the last five
years. She makes quilts targeted at
boys.
Three-year-old cancer patient Aidan Drew picked
Curran's blanket from three choices, eagerly pointing to the
motorcycle-themed quilt. Once in his grasp, he covered himself
up completely and slid under his bedcovers.
A few doors
down, 6-year-old Tanner Bovaconti, who was in the hospital for
the first time for breathing problems, also chose one of
Curran's blankets.
"I'm amazed that they would get so
much enjoyment from something I do for fun," Curran said to
fellow blanketeer Sheryl Walker of Chesterfield, as both women
looked on from outside the room.
Niesen, who does not
sew, formed the St. Louis chapter of Linus in 1997 after
reading about it in a magazine. The Bloomington, Ill.-based
organization started in 1995.
The group delivers
blankets to several hospitals in the area.
Children
aren't the only ones happy about the blankets.
On
Friday, their work drew praise from Robert Bayer of
Florissant. His daughter, Madelyn, who was diagnosed with
cancer a year ago, has received two blankets from Project
Linus.
"I don't know how to express my gratitude for
what they do for these kids - not just mine, for all of them,"
Bayer said. "Wherever we go, that blanket will
go."
Tanner's mother, Tracy Bovaconti of Dardenne
Prairie, urged her son to remember his manners.
"Do you
want to tell the lady thank you?" she asked, folding the
blanket in her lap.
Tanner nodded, stroking the
blanket. He shyly looked downward.
But perhaps a thank
you was not needed. Tanner's face, like that of every child
who received a blanket, had gratitude written all over
it.
More information on Project Linus is available
at its Web site,
www.stlprojectlinus.org
jnoonoo@post-dispatch.com
314-340-8207